Taraxasterol had protective effects against cigarette smoke induced lung inflammation. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Taraxasterolinhibits cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation by inhibiting reactive oxygen species-induced TLR4trafficking to lipid rafts.
Eur J Pharmacol. 2016 Jul 28. Epub 2016 Jul 28. PMID: 27477353
Liu Xueshibojie
Taraxasterol, a pentacyclic-triterpene isolated from Taraxacum officinale, has been demonstrated to have anti-inflammatory effects. However, the protective effects of taraxasterol against cigarette smoke (CS)-induced lung inflammation have not been reported. This study aimed to investigate the protective effects and mechanism of taraxasterol on CS-induced lung inflammation in mice. CS-induced mouse lung inflammation model was used to investigate the protective effects of taraxasterol in vivo. Human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) were used to investigate the protective mechanism of taraxasterol in vitro. The results showed that taraxasterol attenuated CS-induced lung pathological changes, inflammatory cells infiltration, inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β production. Taraxasterol also up-regulated CS-induced glutathione (GSH) production. In vitro, taraxasterol was found to inhibit CS-induced reactive oxygen species production, recruitment of TLR4 into lipid rafts, NF-κB activation, and IL-8 production. Furthermore, our results showed that antioxidant N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) significantly inhibited CS-induced recruitment of TLR4 into lipid rafts as well as IL-8 production. In conclusion, our results suggested that taraxasterol had protective effects of CS-induced lung inflammation.